Send me email updates about messages I've received on the site and the latest news from The CafeMom Team.
By signing up, you certify that you are female and accept the Terms of Service and have read the
Privacy Policy.

So confused

Dh mentioned that he would like to homeschool our 6yr old son next school yr. He wil be in 2nd grade next yr and I'm just not sure about things. Dh and I both had bad experiences in school. I was in public school where my class had about 250 kids. Dh went to a private school, where up until high school, you were with the same 30 kids. Our son is extremely smart, and last yr he was excited about homework and being at school. This yr it started out good, but now he complains everytime its time to do homework, and just doesn't want to be at school. He says its boring. Our son is big into sports already, so that is my fear about pulling him out of public school. I know by law they have to allow him to participate in the school sports, but I'm afraid he will be treated bad if we do it that way. When I was in school we had a girl join our cheer squad that came from a private school, and she was hated and tortured for it. My thinking is maybe we could homeschool him for now till 7th grade when they start middle school. Then they start seperating the kids into different academic levels, and that is when school sports start(before then, you play off the local clubs). DH does not like the idea of pulling him out and then sending him back. We did sit ds down and talk to him about it, and he really wants to do homeschool too.

The other thing that is holding me from jumping fully into this is, we have a 20 month old at home right now that is having some delays, so we have therapist coming to the house working with him, and he is being evaluated for Autism. We also have a 5yr old dd who is diagnosed with Autism, that is in school yr round. On top of our 20 month old having alot of therapist coming to the house, I am currently 24wks pregnant with our 4th child.

I just dont know what to do, or where to start. Sorry if I'm rambling:(

Wow, girl, it sounds like you have a lot on your plate! First off, I want to say that it's good to hear at least some places let the homeschool kids do the school sports. In KY, the law says they can't (b/c some counties were giving incentives to families to get talented kids on their teams, and it was deemed unfair advantage. So any kid who wants to play sports has to live in the county AND attend the public school full-time). :(

As for your questions, I don't have experience with older ones, but my opinion is that I'd rather HS when they're older instead of keeping them at home right up until their hormones/susceptibility to peer pressure kick in, then sending them away. As for his boredom with school, perhaps he's just too smart for what they're teaching? Maybe talk with the teacher(s) about evaluating him for academic level, and if he's ahead, see if they will do something to keep him interested. Not just throw extra work at him, that can feel like a punishment, but maybe let him spend part of the day with a 2nd grade class or something like that.

Start now by looking into your state laws about how many hours a day you have to do school (ours is 6), what kind of records to keep, that sort of thing. With 2 little ones, you may decide that it will be too hectic to try to keep him home right now, but you can always let the younger ones get a little older and keep him home next year. If your dh is willing to put a lot of his own time in it, take into consideration, too. Mine said, do what I want, but don't expect him to help. Then when his oldest (14, doesn't live with us) got pulled out of school, he told them, "I'll help however you need to." Then he came home and told me the same thing about our LOs, b/c he knew I'd string him up if he helped with one's education and not the rest. ;)

Good luck in whatever you do! (And sorry so long, I ramble quite a bit, too!) :D

I am like your husband. Once I pulled my children out of PS (19 yrs ago) I never even thought about putting them back in. Chances are you will change your mind also. Once you bring them home and see how great it is and all the benefits you will not want to hinder him by sending him back. All 15 of our DC were/are educated at home. Down to just one left now. It doesn't matter if they are "genius" level, learn slower or whatever. You can let them learn at their own speed and things that interest them. Good luck and I promise you will love it ;)

I am a stay at home, home educating, non-vaxing, mother to many children :) And a very happy wife to a wonderful man!!!

whatever you decide jenn its worth homeschooling till the end! at first it will be hard to get it all together, but keep going its well worth it for your kids, start checking out the homeschool sites on the internet, talk to people who homeschool, find out what your hs law is, find a hs group and talk to them about it, watch your son and see what he likes learning, and how he learns, order homeschool curr catalogs and look through them, learn all you can now!

Send me email updates about messages I've received on the site and the latest news from The CafeMom Team.
By signing up, you certify that you are female and accept the Terms of Service and have read the
Privacy Policy.